Tag Archives: website

Choosing a domain for your website is close to deciding about the right name for your child.

Or a company, for that matter.

Everyone wants the best name for their website. And yes, it is an absolutely critical point. Your domain name deserves your full devotion, and it’s no exaggeration to say that, in some circumstances, making the wrong choice can break your business.

As for the domain name extensions…

In the U.S., for instance, most businesses go with a dot-com, the most popular generic top-level domain (gTLD). Some websites go for that extra creative step with their top-level domain (TLD) so that it completes their final use like time.is.

There are six different types of top-level domains:

– Generic top-level domains (gTLD)

– Country code top-level domains (ccTLD)

– Restricted generic top-level domains (grTLD)

– Sponsored top-level domains (sTLD)

– Test top-level domains (tTLD)

– Infrastructure top-level domain (ARPA)

What are the differences between ccTLD and gTLD?

– ccTLD, or country code top-level domain, is the top-level domain generally assigned for each country or a dependent territory. The domain consists of two letters representing the country or territory such as “.nl” for the Netherlands, .us for the United States, .tv for Tuvalu, and so on.

– gTLD, or generic top-level domain, is also a top-level domain but is not assigned to a specific country or doesn’t have any restrictions. “.com” and “.net” are the most commonly used gTLDs. A TLD – Top Level Domain identifies something about the website associated with it, such as its purpose, the organization that owns it or the geographical area where it originates. Each TLD has a separate registry managed by a designated organization under the direction of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

The Impact of Using ccTLDs

There are several reasons for choosing a ccTLD over gTLD.

Perhaps the most important SEO benefit of using a ccTLD for your website is the geotargeting benefit, as it sends the clear message to the search engines that the site is designed for a specific country or region.

A ccTLD also comes with challenges when you wish to target other countries and regions.

For example, if your website uses “.de” domain which is a ccTLD for Germany and you add French content targeting France or English content targeting the U.S., you’d need to take extra steps to indicate that those sites are designed for France or U.S.

What Is the Purpose of a Top-Level Domain?

Top-level domains serve as an instant way to understand what a website is about or where it’s based.

For example, seeing a .gov address, like in uk.gov, will immediately inform you that the material on the website is centered around government.

For example, altushost.com is our main website, but we also have altushost.nl as a Netherlands based web hosting company, of course, altus.host, altushost.eu, altushost.net and a bunch of other extensions with the same name but different TLDs.

And that is the smart thing to do. It is your brand reputation in mind, after all.

It’s for this reason that some companies will register multiple TLDs so that anyone going to the other, non-primary URLs, will still land on the company’s website. For example, google.com is how you reach Google’s website, but you can also get there through google.net. They are also geo located, so we’re googling through google.nl for example.

However, google.org is a totally different website.

Generic Top-level Domains (gTLDs)

Generic top-level domains are the common domain names you’re likely most familiar with. These are open for anyone to register domain names under

– .com (commercial)

– .org (organization)

– .net (network)

– .name (name)

– .biz (business)

– .info (information)

Additional gTLDs are available that are called sponsored top-level domains, and are considered restricted because certain guidelines must be met before they can be registered:

1. .com

For people wondering what are the five most common domain extensions, .com is hands-down the most popular top-level domain (TLD). It was originally used to designate for-profit businesses (from commercial) but as you know and see, it has now become the classic go-to among domain names extensions. If it’s available, of course. Fun fact it that all .COM domains starting with A is already registered. And also, you can get yours .COM domain for with AltusHost 4,95 euros in November!

2. .org

The .org extension is also open to any person or entity, even though it was originally designed to represent not-for-profit organizations. It’s a popular option for many non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, politicians and political parties, and online communities.

3. .net

Much like the .COM, .NET is open to anyone. What was originally intended for internet service providers or networks only, has now become a great alternative to .COM. The .NET domain might be a nice little option for tech startups, tech- or application-based companies because it implies network and technology. In our humble opinion.

You’ve probably noticed a little green padlock right next to “Secure” sign and URL of your e-banking, online shop, PayPal or similar websites which require your personal data. That little green thingy called SSL is your ticket to secure surfing, encrypted data aka safe communication, and represents a sort of a “reliable website/company” badge.

A bit of nerd talk to set up some ground info: SSL stands for “secure sockets layer” and is a form of security for sites that handle sensitive data such as client names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card information.

SSL is fundamental for any site that sells goods or services as it guarantees that all information handled remains private and secure. It creates a secure connection between a customer’s web browser and the server of the company they’re associated with.

One of the most recognizable ways (other than a padlock) for customers to see whether a site has encryption in place, is seeing of thehttps protocol instead of regularhttp.

Shoppers today are educated in a manner to look for these things before making any online purchases.

What is more, statistics prove that by not having SSL, impact on the business will be tremendous. According to Gartner, 70 percent of people shopping online has canceled an order because they did not trust the website. Yet, 64 percent of those shoppers claimed that they would have finished the purchase if a website had an SSL certificate in place.

So, let us tell you a few things about advantages and benefits of SSL for your business.

1. Encrypts data

Transferring the message to the end user, or intended party without further noise and interference is the job done by encrypting information which is indeed is the major job for SSL. Data submitted on web forms often passes through more than one computer before reaching its final destination, and the more “stops” it has to make, the higher the chance that a third party could get to it.

In case that the information ends up in the wrong hand after characters are being inserted, information becomes unusable. Only the proper encryption key is able to translate the meaning of information.

2. Provides Authentication

When acquiring SSL certificate there is another type of protection and validation given, it is called a server certificate. This certificate is considered to be a mediator between browsers and SSL servers. This ensures that information is transferred to the correct server without being intercepted. Documents given are at customers disposal and anyone can view it and validate if the SSL certificate of the site is up to date to ensure that the information that they are willing to place on the page is original and safe not fraud.

3. Fundamental component of payment processingWithout further ado, there are some policies that need to comply. Namely, Payment Card Industry compliance indicate that e-commerce needs to have an SSL certificate with the appropriate encryption of at slightest 128-bit. What is more, SSL needs to come from a trusted source, to have the appropriate strength of encryption together with private connection for every page that is having paying process. Without those standards in place, a site won’t be able to take credit card payments.

4. Guards Against Phishing

SSL certificates are not easily obtained. Fraud sites or fake sites that have an aim to steal credit card information through advertisements or phishing emails or malicious user will have a difficult time getting a true SSL certificate. At this point, customers are informed just enough to go away from sites that are not SSL protected without entering any information.

5. Offers Added Brand Power

We’ve said that ‘https’ is one of the visible forms that site obtains alongside with icon. However, companies also display images and site seals to show well-trusted encryption is in use. By showing these symbols it further gives clients level of security that information provided will end to where it has been intended.

6. Business Future Proofing

A step forward in proofing validity and the security level is EV SSL. This security measure meets bigger risks that come with e-commerce today. Not many companies have this today, yet it is a really important step into future proofing.

7. Improves Customer Trust

All of the named elements are joined together to form trust bond between a customer and a business. E-shoppers seek reassurance that their sensitive personal information is secure as it ‘travels’ through cyberspace, by providing SSL is the best way to make them comfortable.

8. SSL certificate improves SEO

One of big elements for your site to climb as Google’s Search top result will happen extensively with the help of search engine optimization (SEO). Much is needed to contribute to this results, quality content, adequate keywords, Google AdWords and UX website with great design.

Hence, to maintain well on Google and perhaps upgrade it is very advisable to add an SSL to your site. From Google’s angle, SSL shows that site is “trusted and certified” and it will further reward it.

9. Descriptional clarificationAlthough direct benefits in correlation to having SSL have been explained, we’d like to describe you operational part of SSL by correlating it to the real-life scenario.

When a customer enters a secure website they seek authentication and identification from the web server, which is presented through its SSL certificate. It is very much similar to what we have in real life, and that is identification card ‘personal ID’. The website cannot simply say I am “May’s” company it needs a trusted certificate provider to prove their identity. Back-and-forth communication is needed for identification process to take place by which customers do not get fooled.

Keeping in mind what we’ve just listed above, SSL is most certainly the very least of guaranteeing the security of information exchange and communications over client and server. No site or application ought to be without it, and all people are advised to keep their information on secure sites only.